Canadians say they need to be better after win over Puerto Rico at Pan Am Cup

GATINEAU – Canada dominated Puerto Rico to open the Pan Am Cup men’s volleyball tournament but head coach Glenn Hoag and his players know they will have to play much better if they plan to go deep into tournament.

The Canadians won the tournament opener 25-17, 25-17, 25-17 in one hour and 17 minutes.

‘’There’s a lot of work to do and we are looking to get better,’’ said Hoag at a post match press conference. ‘’For us, this is a preparation for our Olympic qualifying tournaments later this year.’’

Gavin Schmitt of Saskatoon led the Canadian attack with 14 points while Nicholas Cundy of Edmonton added seven and Justin Duff of Winnipeg and Fred Winters of Victoria six each.

‘’It was great to be back in the Canadian uniform,’’ said Schmitt, who played professionally in South Korea this past winter. ‘’We are working on getting back into the system and right now we need to focus on execution and cohesion.’’

Ezequiel Cruz was the top scorer for Puerto Rico with 10 points while Ulises Maldonado added nine.

‘’We are here to obtain some valuable experience,’’ said Puerto Rico’s head coach Ariel Diaz. ‘’We have some young guys who have never played together before. We made a lot of mistakes while Canada served and blocked really well.’’

‘’We haven’t been practicing that long together and this was the first match for our group,’’ added Puerto Rico’s captain Eduardo Goas.

Puerto Rico plays the Dominican Republic Tuesday and Canada is back in action Wednesday against the Dominicans.